Columbia County Fire Rescue firefighters check in-ground tanks at the Circle K station on Washington Road at Faircloth Drive in Evans Monday morning after a gasoline tanker hit a pole and leaked more than 1,000 gallons of gasoline.

Several businesses and an Evans subdivision were evacuated early Monday after a fuel tanker truck hit a pole and leaked more than 1,000 gallons of gasoline.

About 6:30 a.m., the driver drove into the parking lot of the Circle K station on Washington Road at Faircloth Drive in Evans. He tried to maneuver the truck around a large support pole for a raised billboard, but raked the side of the tanker on the pole, according to Columbia County Fire Rescue Batt. Chief Danny Kuhlmann.

The pole gouged a 1-foot-by-6-inch hole in the side of the tanker and punctured one of the tanker’s 1,500-gallon fuel compartments, Kuhlmann said. About 1,200 gallons of gasoline leaked out onto the ground.

Firefighters and the Columbia County Haz–ardous Materials Team contained the spill using sand in the parking lot and containment equipment in a retention pond where the fuel flowed behind the store. The fuel did not seep into area waterways, Kuhlmann said.

Faircloth Commons, a patio-home community on Faircloth Drive, was evacuated as a precaution along with the Circle K, Evans Diner, and Jiffy Lube. Faircloth Drive was temporarily closed.

A recovery tanker truck off-loaded the remaining fuel in the tanker. A private clean-up crew responded to decontaminate the scene.